Josephine Baker aka Princesse Tam-Tam Honored With a Stamp

Today the U.S. Postal Service will issue a stamp of chanteuse Josephine Baker, known as Princesse Tam-Tam from her role in a 1935 French film of the same name.  The stamp is a reproduction of one of the vintage posters from the film and part of a series of commemorative stamps honoring black theatre. 

Earlier this year, Baker’s son was involved in a controversy with the U.S. Postal Service when he attempted to mail fifteen thousand postcards featuring a 1926 watercolor by Henry Fournier to patrons of his restaurant Chez Josephine.  The watercolor showed his mother topless and the post office refused to mail them saying they were pornographic.  Baker took them to court and won the right to send them. 

The link to the full article is here:  http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gIkuIjbJsylNSFQQ09gOkTIDfrmA